Radio industry’s trading system comes of age

J-ET, the radio industry’s trading system, turns 18 this year and Mediatel is holding a party at the Haymarket Hotel tonight to celebrate.

The system, managed by Radiocentre and IPA and run by Mediatel, handles over 90% of all national radio advertising. It was the first automated industry trading system. J-ET was developed originally to deliver increased single-source Post-Campaign Accountability, to make radio easier to buy and sell, as well as increasing the share of spend. It has also removed accounts queries from radio and provides detailed and immediately usable reconciliation data for campaigns, where none previously existed.

Lynne Robinson, Research Director of the IPA and one of the key people involved in the launch, commented: “J-ET is held up as the exemplar in its field. It runs quietly, efficiently and very cost effectively in the background. That’s a testament to the JICRIT and Mediatel teams.”

J-ET has brought genuine ROI to the radio industry and it continues to be supported by Mediatel’s client service team. Since its launch, close to £5 billion of radio revenue has been traded through J-ET and it remains the only jointly owned industry trading system in the UK.

Nick Hewat, now Commercial Director of Guardian News & Media, but was at Capital Radio when J-ET launched, recalls: “I remember Derek Morris, who was then Chairman (of IPA Radio Working Party) saying, ‘you’ve got something other media would kill for.’ And at the time I don’t think any of us who were involved really understood what that comment meant but I think 18 years on, we do now.”

Derek Jones, CEO of Mediatel says: “It is with great pleasure and pride that we are gathering to mark J-ET’s 18th birthday on Thursday. It has a regular user base of around 600 buyers and sellers. Its client list includes all the major radio groups in London, Manchester and Scotland, plus the leading media agencies in each region. Last year, Mediatel partnered with IMD to launch our new audio distribution service, Audiotrack, which means we now provide a full end-to-end service for radio advertising.”